Table 1. Characteristics of patients and controls.

item	controls	ALS	p-value
number included	62	62
M/F	36/26	42/20	0.3527
age (years)	59.9±12.2	59.9±12.1	1.000
BMI (kg/m2)	25.0±6.0	23.1±3.6	0.0004
site of onset (bulbar/spinal)		44 spinal
		10 bulbar
		7 unknown
disease duration (months)		22.5±15.3
ALS-FRS-R		36.3±7.5